The Ghaldo Mountain 2

Sleep didn’t come easily to him this night, despite the change in weather with an overcast sky and the dark tent. The mountain unnerved him. The eerie cry had raised his neck hairs and set his nerves on edge, it hadn’t helped much that is seemed to be a collective reaction in the group. Whatever it had been, it had been closer and sounded large. Even the chief had seemed extra vigilant. He let out a breath he realized he had been holding. Tomorrow was promising to be another day on the march, still deeper into the Ghaldo mountain. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. After a while he noticed it had become too quiet around him.       As he opened his eyes he noticed something was wrong, it was dark. It never got dark during the nevernights. Up above him the stars sparkled brighter and clearer than he had ever seen them before, mesmerized he sat up and realized he was alone. Gone were the tents, gone were the men, even the firepit, gone. Yet the cliff face was still there, but still somehow different. What was going on? Standing up John looked about, his heart pounding, this was wrong, it was the same place as he had laid down to sleep, but everything was out of kilter.   Out in the distance a bone chilling howl called out to the night. It sounded like nothing he had ever heard before, it sounded completely inhuman. He was cold sweating and breathing heavily. As he involuntarily took a step back a butterfly the size of a small bird flew by in front of him on lazy wings. It was glowing with a faint but clear blue and pink colour, leaving a trail of shiming dust that slowly dimmed and died away.   It was mesmerizing in its gentle beauty. He followed it with his eyes as it flew away and into the wood. Hang on, there were no wood here!   Faint memories seemed to flow back into his mind; he had been to this place before. As the memories slowly filtered in he calmed down and took a deep breath. The Dream world, Sjelheim! It was strange, it seemed like the memories he made in this place remained here. It felt so clear now, yet he was sure that when he woke up again the memories would fade once more.         He remembered an old tale Rylan’s gran had been telling over the hearth. “Some places the veil of the land is thin, and a touched mind can drift.” The fact that is was a cautionary tale did not help with the notion that you would remember more of the dream world when you woke up again as your connection with it deepened. According to old gran that's when people went mad or never woke up again. It was hard deciding which was worse.   A memory of Russle from the previous morning came to him, “Felt so real”. It made more sense now, his good friend Russle must have progressed a lot further than he had. It was more than a little disturbing. Still, looking at the world around him the thought of forgetting it once he woke up just felt wrong. He started making his way back towards the cliff where he had previously gazed out over the land. What would he see this time? As he made his way up he noticed subtle differences, the boulder and cliff was covered in thick moss and tiny pale wildflowers, and the orientation of the boulder was a little off. Cracks in different places. Supposedly the world mirrored his own, but not as an exact replica. What had gran said again, “The dream world reflects how the world could have been, but at the same time it takes its own course.” It seemed to make sense. A world that followed different rules.   The alternate orientation of the large boulder luckily made it easier to make it over to the ledge, and there grew small saplings out of cracks in the rock that made the rest of the assent quick work. If Marnese during the twilight and the three moons had been grand and majestic then the sight that faced him now was one of gentle magic. The night air was full of small floating lights and the starry sky was so rich and radiant that he felt immensely small. As he gazed up he spotted one star that stood out as brighter than all the rest and it seemed to move slowly across the heavens. He gazed at it a little longer before he lowered his eyes and looked out across the lands. He felt a little trepidation at the sight as the horizon seemed to stretch on even further. It was so vast and seemingly magical, and probably full of mythical creatures, and for some reason that felt entirely right. Right now the fear of fae and monsters felt a bit silly. But then again everyone knew that fae could be wile beasts that would eat children and destroy crops.   So what to do now? He felt a connection here, and understood that spirits were everywhere, but so far he hadn’t seen any spirits besides the butterfly and a small striped six legged catlike creature that had quickly scurried away last time he had been to the dream world. A rustling sound behind him made him jump and spin around. At the same place where he had climbed up stood Rylan.         “Alais?”         “Five hells Rylan, don’t sneak up on me like that.” His heart was threatening to burst out of his chest. Damn, seeing Rylan suddenly standing there, silhouetted only against the night sky had completely freaked him out, and he hated himself for it. He also weren't used to being called by fist name.         “Sorry Del, I thought it might be you standing up here, but I couldn’t really believe it. I have always been alone in the dream world. Whoa, what a view.”         Seeing Rylan standing there as he had, gazing out over the strange world around them felt both reassuring and foreboding. It at once became clear that this world and theirs was truly linked, for if Rylan could stand here beside him then this had to be so much more than a dream. As if reading his mind Rylan turned to look at him, “I once heard a different name for this world, the spirit realm. Supposedly this is where our souls go when we die.”         “Really?”         “Supposedly, if you opt out on the gods and such.” Rylan looked thoughtful.         “They never tell us much do they, all they do is make us work out and meditate. If we ask we are just told that we will grasp it in time.” he said.         “Seeing you standing here besides me in a different world might lend some truth to that, I would have been hard pressed to believe it if someone had told me this a few weeks ago. This place though, the Ghaldo mountains, it must be special.”         He didn’t have anything to say to that. Suddenly his neck hairs stood on end and a chill rand down his spine. The strange thing was that he had no idea why, and nonetheless a coldness crept over him. When he looked down to where he had woken up here he saw the silhouette of a man walking towards the wood. He couldn’t make out who it could be, but whoever it was he looked just as scared as he had been when he woke up here. Soon the man was gone as he quickly moved under the shade of the trees. As he was about to point it out to Rylan, Rylan suddenly grabbed hold of him and tossed him down to the ground.         “What?”         “Shhh, quiet.” Rylan hissed.         Rylan followed by dragged himself over to the edge of the cliff and so he did the same. What he saw down below made the hairs on his whole body stand on end and choked his breath. Down below a huge black shape seemed to be gliding across the open ground in the direction the man had moved. Straining his eyes to follow the path of the shape as it moved over the open glade it looked like an enormous hound larger than any horse he had seen, and it was black as the night, with taunt skin draped over rippling sinewy muscles. Its head was like a cross between a dreadful hound and an elongated horse skull, with sharp black teeth that glistened in the faint light. Five protrusions rose from its spine that looked like a cross between spiked tentacles and a great feather, they swayed in an uncanny and haunting way. The only way they could follow it with their eyes was that at the base of each tentacle like feather sat what looked like a round gem that glowed with a soft azure light.         “Karithras save us,” John whispered to himself. The creature suddenly froze in motion and the azure lights on its tentacle feathers seemed to dim. The moment seemed to last for an eternity as he felt the eyes of the beast on him, and he could hear his own hart pounding in his chest. Finally the monster moved again. It was a fluid motion in the direction of the forest, away from them, then it disappeared from view altogether under the shades of the trees. A moment later he heard Rylan let out his breath. At the sound of Rylan gulping down air he realized his own lungs where burning and he let out his own breath. Looking over at Rylan he saw that the always calm and stoic man was pale as a ghost, with beads of sweat running down his forehead.   They lay there for a long while, either refusing or unable to get back on their feet. Suddenly a shrill scream filled the still night air. It was a scream of utter terror and fear, then followed by another scream full of pain that was abruptly cut short. Soon after a ghostly howl rang out, the same howl he had first heard when he woke up in the dream world. They stayed on top of the cliff until the first rays of light broke the horizon, neither speaking a single word.         When he woke up he felt exhausted, wretched and cold. As always the memories quickly faded away, but the feeling of animal fear was hard to shake, even as Russle poked his head through the tent flap to greet him good morning.   They ate a quiet breakfast. As they did John had a nagging feeling that there was something he had forgotten, but no matter how hard he tried it eluded him. Rylan kept giving him weird glances now and then, which made no sense; he didn’t press the matter though. He felt like he hadn’t slept at all during the night and was in no mood to inquire. Russle was cheerful as always but that just felt annoying right now.   The two guides in charge of the group, the druid Belran and chief Veriel where in a heated albeit quiet conversation out of ears reach. Most of the men, John included looked over at them with curiosity. When they finished their secrete debate the chief came over and addressed the group.         "Listen up! We will be entering the central region of the mountain today. There will be no more rest until we reach the temple grounds, even if we have to march through the night. The quicker the pace the sooner we arrive. I make no qualms about it though, it is hard going from here on out. You have come far in your training, and those besides you here are the final selection. We move out in short order!"         "What’s up with that?" he asked.         "Don’t know" Russle said, "word has it something happened to Joel during the night, no one has been able to wake him up."   John felt a knot tighten in his gut, but he couldn’t really relate to why. Rylan on the other hand looked positively pale at the news.